RIFLE ASSOCIATION POWER STRUGGLE PITS BOARD AGAINST CONSERVATIVES

Published: January 28, 1987

Nearly a decade after the National Rifle Association went through a sweeping leadership upheaval, a new power struggle is under way in the nation's foremost gun lobby.

The dispute pits the 75-member board of directors against a conservative dissident faction of members who term the board too conciliatory toward politicians in the organization's fight to defend what it considers a constitutional right. The struggle, largely behind the scenes, will help determine the leadership of the organization and the role of its nearly three million members in making policy.

The dispute has been marked by angry charges that the board acted illegally in removing a paid officer and has abused its powers, and countercharges that the dissidents have virtually subverted the organization.

The dissidents seek to defend the members' ability to fill the organization's highest staff position and want a strict adherence by the board of directors to the bylaws. The bylaws now provide that the highest staff position, the executive vice presidency, is filled by membership election, along the board seats, one third of them at each election. 'Talking About Management'

Rudolph F. Rose, an insurgent member from Virginia who is running for a seat on the board, said: ''We're not talking about any kind of gun issue here, we're talking about the management of the organization. Does the board have the right to violate its own bylaws with impunity? I don't think so.''

James Reinke, president of the organization, denied that the the board had ever exceeded its legal authority. ''Our legal counsel has said that the complaints are without merit,'' Mr. Reinke said.

Earlier this month, the chapter for Maryland and the District of Columbia, as well as individual members, filed a complaint against the board with the Attorney General of New York, the state where the association is incorporated.

The complaint says that the executive vice president was removed and replaced by the board in defiance of bylaws. The complaint also says that the organization's official journal presented only the arguments of the board on proposals to change the bylaws and that members could not get other information they sought, Convention to Be Held in April Some members and state associations have also accused the board of using membership publications for politicking on the bylaws vote and the elections, which will take place in April at the membership convention in Reno. They also say that computer system used to count ballots may be programmed with predetermined results. Mail ballots for those not attending the Reno meeting start arriving in in the current issue of the organization's journal this weekend.

Neal Knox, considered the leader of the dissidents, was ousted by the board in 1982 from his position as the organization's chief lobbyist. Members and former members of the board and staff have said Mr. Knox alienated key members of Congress with a confrontational style.

Mr. Knox, who is campaigning for election as executive vice president, and the dissidents want the bylaws changed to allow members to remove the executive vice president, as well as elect him, to give all members the opportunity to put their views into the association's publications and to affirm that the members have a duty to support keeping and bearing arms as a constitutional right. In September, the board overwhelmingly disapproved this package of changes.

If the membership supports Mr. Knox at the next annual meeting, the organization would become more hard-line, many staff members and observers say. Board Wants the Power Back

The board, led by Mr. Reinke, has recommended its own amendment to the bylaws, giving the board the power to select and dismiss the executive vice president.

Incumbent officials said the board was not concerned about the dissidents' challenge because their number was small. Board members have, however, begun raising money to campaign against the dissidents and their proposed changes.

Last month, the Gun Rights Committee, an organization of present and former board members of the organization, sent selected members an appeal for money. The letter said $50,000 was needed to stop ''Knox and his 'take over the N.R.A.' crowd,'' and ''win this 1987 battle over the bylaws and the future of our beloved N.R.A.''

The split first developed at the association's 1977 annual meeting in Cincinnati. In a shake-up, members ousted most of their top elected and paid officials and selected Harlon Carter, a former president, as executive vice president. It was at this time that the members changed the bylaws to allow membership election of the executive vice president.

The strategy for that revolt was principally developed by Mr. Knox, then editor of Rifle magazine and Handloader magazine, which are independent of the organization. Split Got Worse in 1982

The board's ouster of Mr. Knox as lobbyist in 1982 worsened the split, according to N.R.A. staff members who spoke on the condition that they not be named.

The recent upsurge began last spring when G. Ray Arnett, then executive vice president, was stripped of power and barred from national headquarters in Washington. The board replaced Mr. Arnett with J. Warren Cassidy, who had been chief lobbyist.

The dissidents say the board had no power to remove Mr. Arnett nor to replace him with Mr. Cassidy, absent a vote of the membership.

Mr. Knox and other dissidents said the board's attempt to change the bylaws to give the board the power to remove the executive vice president was an effort to undo the changes made in Cincinnati.

John D. Aquilino, former director of education for the organization and now editor of The Insider Gun News, which is not connected with the organization, said: ''What the board is trying to do is reverse a 10-year policy where the whole leadership of the N.R.A. had been assumed by the membership.

''The board wants very much to have control of the selection of the executive vice president, because they're afraid that Neal Knox will try and win the position in a membership election.''